Marines deploy to Syria with artillery
Hundreds of US Marines have been deployed to northern Syria to support an upcoming offensive against the ISIS capital of Raqqa, according to US defense officials.
Since summer 2014, when IS was at its peak just ahead of the US-led war on the group, the jihadists have lost 65 percent of the land they’d seized across much of northern Syria and large parts of Iraq, the USA defense official said.
In line with this strategy, a couple hundred Marines were deployed into Syria with heavy artillery guns, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday, as part of the ongoing preparations to oust the IS from its self-declared capital of Raqqa.
Though the USA has been hoping to include both Turkey and the battle-hardened Kurdish forces, Yildirim insisted Turkey wouldn’t be part of any operation including the Syrian Kurdish force known as the YPG, considered by Ankara to be terrorists who threaten Turkey’s security.
So, what are these additional Marines and Army Rangers doing in Syria?
A U.S. marine artillery unit has been deployed to help the Kurdish-led forces in the battle. That is the estimated maximum range on many rounds fired from the M-777 howitzer. A similar deployment previous year near Mosul, Iraq involved several hundred Marines equipped with artillery guns that fire shells to provide covering fire for advancing forces. The Marine artillery would be able to provide additional combat support for SDF fighters in and around Raqqa.
The temporary increase in troops and artillery to Syria comes at a time when the Trump administration is considering the deployment of 1,000 soldiers to the region, who would serve as reserve forces, according to Reuters.
The 400 additional United States troops include a team of Army Rangers and a Marine artillery unit that arrived in Syria in the past few days.
Other Marines have been redeployed from Djibouti to Syria for support, another defense official told The Post. About 4,000 ISIS terrorists are located within the city, according to US intelligence. It was not part of Donald Trump’s promised revamped plan to defeat ISIS.
Kurdish forces are expected to hand more villages to the Syrian Army West of Manbij in the next days. In recent months, however, anti-ISIS militia gains and an increased USA presence have appeared to indicate that the operation could finally get underway. The report said that there are about 6,000 troops serving mainly as advisers in the area.
Her remarks are likely to anger Turkey, which has insisted that Syrian opposition fighters backed by Ankara should lead the offensive on Raqqa rather than the SDF, which is dominated by the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“We have always said we are open to a role for Turkey in the liberation of Raqqa and will continue that discussion to whatever logical end there is”.
The US believes the pressure on ISIS in Raqqa is working. There are now around 500 special operations members in the country serving in advisory and training roles.
Washington has been discussing the assistance given to the rebel militias and Kurdish forces, America’s allies in Syria, for weeks.